The main highways connecting Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), to outer world have been closed for traffic for already five days due to recent heavy snowfalls.
According to the GBAO emergency management agency, heavy snowfalls blocked roads connecting Khorog to the districts of the region. The Dushanbe-Khorog, Khorog-Ishkashim and Khorog-Murgab highways are reportedly still closed for traffic.
Acting head of the GBAO emergency management agency, Shuhrat Shoismatov, says warmer temperatures have increased the risk of further avalanches and rockfalls in the region, where dozens of snow-slides occurred in late January and early February.
Director of the GBAO hydrometeorology observatory, Kishvarsho Navrouzshoyev, says this year’s snowfalls were Gorno Badakhshan’s heaviest over the past 70 years.
Meanwhile, closure of roads has led to increase in prices for some basic food products in the region. Thus, prices for potatoes, carrots and onions at Khorog’s bazaar have risen 20-30 percent over the past few days.
